Shawn L. Bird

Original poetry, commentary, and fiction. All copyrights reserved.

poem- refuge September 5, 2015

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 3:43 pm
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The sea

rocks tiny feet,

caresses small hands,

steals breath and rests

tiny bodies on the shore

where they’re at peace,

but out of reach

of their father’s desperate grasp.

The sea

rocks small boats,

of dubious sanctuary

and with each wave it tosses on the beach,

points foaming fingers at those

who turn faces from the tragedy.

.

.

I decided not to attach the iconic photo of Alan Kurdi to this poem out of respect.  Instead, here is an interview with his father describing the tragedy.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/syria-migrants-canada-drowned-migrants-1.3213772

 

normal or amazing? August 23, 2012

Filed under: Pondering — Shawn L. Bird @ 4:58 pm
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I’ve been thinking about this in terms of mid-life crisis (or mid-life analysis, if you prefer).  It seems a lot of people reach a point where they look around at where they’ve been, and just decide to toss out the societal constraints that ruled their earlier decision making.  After years of youthful striving for ‘normal’ (that boring conformity), they’re now stepping out.  Whether it’s tossing a twenty year marriage, starting a new career, or leaping into the bucket list with heretofore unobserved enthusiasm, there does seem to be a change that comes with the ‘middle years.’

I find myself that a lot of things I ‘always wanted to do’ have gotten done in the last year or two.  It’s not that I conscientiously aimed to accomplish those things; it just seemed that the stars aligned and they happened, almost without me noticing.  I found myself somewhat astonished to recognise the accomplishments or changes.  So now I’m thinking, if I was able to do those amazing things without intent, what could happen if I make an intentional effort?  To be honest, my past experience suggests that intention tends to lead to failure for some reason, so perhaps I should just let the universe take care of things?  At any rate, staid and normal are out.  I am getting whackier as the years go by.  I will be an amazing, creative, and crazy little old lady eventually, I think, and I’m embracing that.   How about you?

 

 
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